The following article comes to the Strategic Sourceror courtesy of Supply Solutions, a leading Supply Management services provider based in Brazil.

Most executives in the world know that Brazil is a huge
market, but less know why and how there are so many opportunities. Brazil is one of the largest consumer
markets in the world, with a highly productive agriculture sector and a
diversified economy, and it is the 7th economy worldwide and accounts for almost
USD 3,0 trillion GDP (2014 basis).

According to consolidated data from the 1,000 biggest companies in Brazil produced by Valor Econômico
(the largest local financial newspaper) in partnership with Serasa Experian and
Business School FGV:

By the end of 2015, however, this table will be out of date because of a
serious political and economical crisis. The GDP shall decrease as
Brazil is facing a recession and investigations of corruption in the government. It is directly affecting sectors like Gas & Oil and Electric Power (where there is government
participation) as well as others such as Automotive and Construction & Engineering.

Still, there is some good news. The favorable exchange
rate is making some companies take advantage and export more. In the domestic
field, some companies expanded geographically and won market share as others
decided to please class C consumers like some retail chains. Also drug
retailers are thriving, particularly thanks to the aging population. Therefore there certainly
are great opportunities of sourcing from Brazil at this time.

Supply Solutions 13 years experience has shown that Brazilian market
has evolved fast. There is a comprehensive professional supply market available
to meet demands in almost every segment. Most of them knows Strategic Sourcing
Processes very well and already deal with customers using local or foreign SaaS
solutions. It means that closing deals is becoming more professional over time.

There are still a lot of opportunities, of course. Many companies rode the successful wave of Brazilian growth during the periods of
2003-2008 and 2010-2013. Some grew very fast and others were born as a result
of the merger or acquisition processes. The ones who seized the moment and improved
their administration processes are now ready to face this complicated economic
time.

There are however many that are facing difficulties and need
to rethink their cost processes rapidly - but are still struggling to make a decision.

The Brazilian government intervenes in business environment at its own convenience. It changes taxes and business rules, and creates an uncertain environment
impacting on decisions companies have to make. Even for multinational companies or highly professionalized local
companies, decisions take more time because of the additional analysis that
this uncertainty requires.

Local companies tend to be faster. They override
this problem and just carry on. They tend to be smaller than their competitors
and risk much more on almost all ways. The decision must bring quick wins and
if not they just change it until they go right.

In summary it can be said that doing business in Brazil is not so
complex - it just needs some knowledge about the business behavior and to be current about governmental measures on the sector - just like you need in any other country.

Strategic Sourceror

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Source One Management Services, LLC is a leading procurement services provider. Since 1992, Source One has been providing companies in all industries with sourcing services including BPO, Benchmarking, Spend Analysis, Category Support, and RFX Management.